Beer Styles

Beer Styles

Session Pale, Blonde and Golden Ales Up to 4.3% ABV

Refreshing, light drinking beers

Pale Ales incorporating British and New World Pale Ales Colour: Typically dark gold to amber.

Flavour: Malt should be present but must be light in character. Hop flavours must also be noticeable and maybe earthy, spicy, citrusy or tropical depending on the varieties used. Tend to be fruitier than a Session Bitter. Minimal or no butterscotch

Blonds and Golden Ales Colour Straw to gold

Flavour Minimal malt flavour with the fruit being medium to strong. The hop may vary from traditional earthy or spicy English and German hops to the citrusy New World hops. Minimal or no butterscotch Descriptions Golden: Pronounced fruity, often citrus, hop notes and may have a strong bitterness Blonde: tend to have minimal to moderate fruit but not a strong citrus character.

Premium Pale, Blond and Golden Ales: 4.4% -6.4% ABV

Refreshing, full bodied beers

Pale Ales incorporating British and New World Pale Ales Colour: Typically dark gold to amber.

Flavour: Malt should be present but must be light to medium in character and should not dominate the flavour. Their fruitiness may be minimal to strong and citrusy or tropical. Hop flavours must also be noticeable and maybe earthy, spicy, citrusy or tropical depending on the varieties used. Minimal or no butterscotch. Medium to full bodied

Blonds and Golden Ales Colour Straw to gold

Flavour Minimal or no malt should be present. Hop flavours are noticeable and may vary from traditional earthy and spicy English and German hops to citrusy New World hops. Minimal or no butterscotch Descriptions Golden: Pronounced fruity, often citrus, hop notes and may have a strong bitterness Blonde: tend to have minimal to moderate fruit but not a strong citrus character.

British & New World IPAs: 5.5% ABV+ These are strong hoppy beers with moderate to strong bitterness; usually bittersweet. The finish is long and complex

British IPAs Colour: Amber to pale brown

Flavour: These beers are hoppier than Premium Bitters. The benchmark is a Bass recipe from the 19th century comprised of pale malt, brewing sugar and East Kent Goldings and Progress hops. More modern hop varieties can be used but they should be English in style rather than New World. There is often honeyed/biscuit malt aroma and flavours with pepper, spicy, earthy, piney or floral resins from the hops. Fruit, if evident, should not be the overwhelming citrus kick of New World IPAs

New World IPAs Colour Straw to pale brown

Flavour These IPAs are ‘hop forward’ but with a balance of malt, hops and fruit. They are more complex than Premium Pale Ales and Blonds and can have fruit levels akin to New World Golden Ales being noticeably fruitier than British IPAs. The fruit can be citrusy, tropical or of white wine. Floral notes are not unknown. The malt makes less of an impact than with traditional British versions being light and usually biscuity, although New England IPAs (NEIPAs) tend to have a greater malt balance than the more assertively hoppy West Coast versions.

Strong Stouts and Porters including Imperial Stouts and Baltic Porters: 5.0% ABV+

Strong Stouts Colour: Black

Flavour: These beers have flavours and aromas resulting from the roasted malts e.g. chocolate, caramel and coffee notes. They should have a full mouthfeel with minimal hop and fruit notes. You will often also find Dry, Oyster, Oatmeal & Milk stouts, all with their own unique flavour and take on the original stout

Strong Porters Colour Dark brown to Black

Flavour Roasty notes of coffee or chocolate that are balanced by a hoppy character with some fruit. This may be dark fruits e.g. damsons, black cherries or caramelised fruits, such as raisins or sultanas. Sweetness ranges from sweet to dry but with a rich, full body.

Imperial Stouts and Baltic Porters This style of beer derives from the strong versions of stout and porter brewed in London in the 18th and 19th centuries for export to Russia and the Baltic States. Aromas and flavours are deep and complex with roasted grain, caramelised fruit (raisins and sultanas), fresh leather, espresso coffee, bitter chocolate, molasses and liquorice. Hops may not be too much in evidence on the nose but may be peppery and spicy. The finish is long and complex, with bitter and spicy hops balancing creamy malt, roast, dark fruit, coffee, chocolate and liquorice. Warming alcohol is often noticeable due to the high alcohol content. These beers are full bodied, smooth and rich. If beers are aged in wood, there may be caramel and vanilla flavours

Speciality Beers Differently Produced Speciality Beers are those brewed with non-standard ingredients or techniques Lager: Up to 8.5% ABV Genuine Lagers are bottom- fermented beers and are ‘ lagered ’ (stored) for several weeks, if not months. They can include the following: • Pilsners Colour Yellow to gold. : Depending on whether it is a German or Czech style Pilsner, the beer may range from light in malt to having a noticeable bready, malt aroma and flavour. Hop flavour should be present from Noble hops, giving fruity notes. Medium to high bitterness depending on the style. Helles are lower in hop and bitter notes Wheat Beers: up to 8.5% ABV Colour Yellows and golds as in the traditional German Weissbier. They can also be darker, including dark brown, if dark malts are used e.g. Dunkles Weissbier Flavour These are beers in which a large proportion of wheat is used, often resulting in a cloudy appearance. Hops will be evident throughout balanced by the malts used. The wheat flavour softens the biscuitiness of the malted barley. Esters, clove and banana-like flavours may be particularly evident in the aroma

Sours Colour: Yellow to light brown Wild beers are fermented using organisms other than standard brewer’s yeasts to produce acidity as a prominent feature. The acid is usually lactic, which is odourless and tasteless but brings tartness.

Speciality Beers - Flavoured Flavoured Speciality Beers can be similar to all other styles in that any beer style can be adapted by a flavour addition to become a Speciality

Fruit: Up to 8.5% ABV Colour: Yellow to black but may be ‘non - beer’ colours dependent upon the base beer and the fruit being added. Flavour: The character of the base beer will influence the final taste but must not dominate i.e. the fruit must be noticeably present in the flavour. The wide range of fruit available to brewers means that the taste may range from sour (typical of lemons or some cherries), to bitter (such as bergamot) through to sweet (such as mango or strawberry). Additional sugars may be used to sweeten the beers.

Herbs/Spices: up to 8.5% ABV Colour Yellows to black

Flavour The character of the base beer will influence the final taste but must not dominate i.e. the added ingredient must be noticeably present in the flavour. The ingredients may range from spices such as ginger and coriander, herbs or flowers such as mint and elderflower and culinary ingredients, such as vegetables, honey, coffee, chocolate and vanilla, to fortified wines and spirits.